Return to Jurassic Park
3: ESCAPE
April 1994: Continued
It was shortly before two in the morning Mike Epson climbed up to the platform of one of the guard towers and joined Phillips, one of the men that brought the crate in earlier and the one that spoke to him and Dodgson.
"Hey, Phillips. Great job earlier. The way things are going we'll have all the samples we need by noon tomorrow."
"If everything goes right."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the hadro was the Rex's kill. He wouldn't just leave it."
Epson looked inquisitively at Phillips.
"I don't follow."
"Well, according to Grant's and the children's testimony the Rex was protective of its kills. Grant mentions where he and the kids were attempting to come back here via the river when the adult Rex began to chase them. However, when the little Rex attempted to claim a kill the big Rex had made, the adult broke off chasing them and went back to chase the young Rex off. So, I'm wondering what would have made the Rex leave a perfectly good kill."
Epson shrugged.
"Maybe some trikes came by."
"Yeah," Phillips said, "we thought of that. But none of the big animals were around when we got there. What happened to the Rex? I doubt if he forgot about his kill, his nose would have brought him back eventually. And soon."
Phillips looked over at Epson as he yawned.
"Why don't you go get some sleep? It's gonna be a big day later."
Epson shook his head.
"Nah, I like the night. Especially nights like tonight."
Phillips knew what Epson was talking about. Epson loved the mild weather. And tonight was a mild night. Cool and damp, the air was like liquid.
Epson and Phillips chatted for the next hour. It was almost three in the morning when Phillips looked at his watch. And that's when Epson sat forward, alert and his rifle at ready.
Phillips looked at him then out at the jungle in the direction Epson was looking, but couldn't see anything.
"What do you see?"
Epson shook his head.
"I thought I saw something move in the trees. I don't know. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye."
"Probably just the wind. We've had a light breeze off and on since sunset."
Epson nodded. Maybe that was it. Epson leaned back and turned to say something to Phillips and that is when the attack came.
The first of the raptors vaulted out of the tree Epson had been looking at and landed on top of the guard tower Phillips and Epson shared. Both men moved to the edges as the top partially gave way and one of the raptor's legs fell through.
Epson and Phillips raised their rifles to fire, but the raptor freed himself as they did so and they just missed.
Phillips moved for the ladder as Epson looked around at the other guard towers and saw that several of them as well were under attach. In the next one over Epson saw that one of the guys had been disemboweled and blood was running over the edge and down the ladder.
Epson looked back at Phillips just in time to see the raptor bend down from the flimsy roof and grab him by the back of the shirt.
Phillips flailed his arms and screamed in surprise for a moment, but before anyone could do anything his shirt ripped and Phillips fell, barely catching the edge of the platform and mounting the ladder.
As Phillips climbed down Epson raised his rifle and fired again, barely missing the raptor again.
The raptor turned his head to look at Epson with one eye before he jumped off the top and began to chase Phillips, who was now almost to the Lodge entrance.
Epson slung his rifle over his shoulder and began to climb down. He was half way down when the perimeter lights went out, shrouding the entire area in darkness.
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Phillips ran through the door into the Lodge corridor and turned to slam the door shut, but a raptor threw himself into the door, flinging it open and causing Phillips to stumble.
The raptor looked at Phillips then sniffed the air, perhaps detecting some other prey. Whatever the reason, Phillips took this opportunity to scramble up and run.
Like a cat with its prey, the raptor waited for Phillips to get a few feet then launched himself at Phillips. But Phillips stumbled as he turned to look over his shoulder and fell to the floor again, the raptor landing just beyond him. So close in fact that as Phillips got up to run the raptor turned and whacked him with its tail, throwing Phillips up against a wall and causing him to fall again, this time dropping his rifle which clattered over by a door. Phillips rolled over and saw the raptor above him, the lights behind it causing the raptor to look like it was smiling.
And as the raptor raised its foot, its thick tail angled to the side for balance, Phillips knew that his life was over. He closed his eyes as he felt the weight of the raptor on his stomach followed by a hot searing pain start at his solar plexus and move down toward his groin.
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Epson ran through the Visitor's Center toward the room where the samples were stored. He unclipped his radio from his belt to radio ahead to the helipad. They were going to take what samples they had and leave, and no amount of arguing from Dodgson was going to change that point.
"Helipad, this is Epson. Do you copy?"
"This is Aaron at the helipad. I copy you loud and clear."
Excellent, Epson thought. Aaron was one of the chopper pilots they had. And Aaron could fly at night. Or, rather, would fly at night. Epson always suspected that he wasn't quite right. At any rate, Aaron had flown several night missions in tight spots before.
"Aaron we are being overrun here at the compound and need immediate assistance."
"Roger that, Epson. Is there anywhere I can land nearby and pick you up?"
"Affirmative. There is a spot on top of the lodge large enough for you to land on."
"Roger that. I'll see you when I get there."
With that Epson clicked off his radio and clipped it back to his belt. He looked over at the large incubator in front of him. It looked like what it was; a large refrigerator turned on its back and mounted on a rolling cart.
Epson lifted the door open and looked inside. The samples looked secure so he closed the lid again and pressed some buttons and an electronic lock secured the door to keep it from opening. Then Epson moved to one end and began to wheel the incubator out of the room.
Dodgson edged his way out into the corridor looking both ways to make sure he was alone. He noticed at one end that a door was open and beyond he could see the main compound and the large fence that was supposed to protect them.
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Some fucking protection, Dodgson thought.
Dodgson cautiously made his way over to the door and shut it.
No sooner had Dodgson closed the door when the door at the other end of the hall flew open.
Dodgson whirled, ready to fire, but saw it was only Epson with the incubator.
"Jesus fucking Christ, you almost gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry, boss. There's a chopper on the way over from the helipad. I'm going to have him take the incubator, you, and a couple of other people if possible and get back to Puntarenas."
Dodgson and Epson picked the incubator up and began to carry it up the stairs and to the roof.
------
Outside Dodgson and Epson carried the large incubator over to the edge of a clear spot, the gravel on the roof crunching under their feet. Dodgson looked around at the jungle and the compound. A slight fog had set in the jungle around the compound and, combined with the light of the moon, gave the jungle an eerie ghostly feeling. From time to time he thought he could see something moving. Always out of the corner of his eye, though.
No more than a minute passed before they head the rhythmic whump of helicopter blades and then as sudden a chopper broke the treetops and was quickly hovering above them. Two rows of lights mounted to the bottom of the chopper lit up and the roof was illuminated. They could see Aaron in the seat, illuminated by the lights, looking back and forth for a place to land.
The chopper passed sideways over their heads to the opposite of the building before finally venturing to set down. And it was then that Dodgson got a good look at the chopper and realized that it was too small to take the incubator. Aside from pilot and copilot, the chopper was only big enough to carry maybe four or five people.
Epson ran over to the chopper, ducking under the blades, and stepped up to Aaron, who had opened his door to get out.
"What's this? Where's the other bird? You were supposed to return with the other one so that it would be ready for taking the incubator back to the mainland. There's no way this one can handle that."
"I know, sir, but there was a problem with the ignition and it had to be put in for repair, but I called ahead on my way here from the pad and they're sending it out in a half hour." Aaron said sheepishly.
"Fucking Jesus," Epson rubbed his eyes and sighed loudly. He looked back to where Dodgson was standing, now with what was left of the men. Of the twenty that were here before nightfall, it seemed that only ten or twelve had made it.
"Alright, you five," Epson pointed to the five men on his left then pointed to Dodgson, "and you, sir, on the bird now. Aaron will take you back to Puntarenas. You can catch a plane back to the States from there. The rest of us will take the incubator and make our way to the helipad. Now get going."
Without delay Dodgson and the five selected men boarded the chopper and strapped themselves in. Epson stepped back as the blades spun up again and the chopper rose into the sky and eventually floated east and out of sight.
Epson felt a foreboding. Somehow, he knew, they would never make it off of the island.
